CHAPTER 15
of events which must take place in days to come. “In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also, he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.”fq4
In the vision of the seventh chapter, the last great monarch of the Gentiles was represented only as a blasphemer and a persecutor: “He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High;” but here he is described as being also a general and a diplomatist. Having thus obtained a recognized place in prophecy, he is alluded to in the vision which follows as “the Prince who is coming,”
(<270926>
Daniel 9:26) — a well-known personage, whose advent had already been foretold; and the mention of him in Daniel’s fourth and final vision is so explicit, that having regard to the vital importance of establishing the personality of this “King,” the passage is here set forth at length.
“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished. for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate he shall honor the God of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the
countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also
upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”fq5
The burden of Daniel’s prophecies is Judah and Jerusalem, but the
Apocalyptic visions of the beloved disciple have a wider scope. The same scenes are sometimes presented, but they are displayed upon a grander scale. The same actors appear, but in relation to larger interests and events of greater magnitude. In Daniel, the Messiah is mentioned only in relation to the earthly people, and it is in the same connection also that the false Messiah comes upon the stage. In the Apocalypse the Lamb appears as the Savior of an innumerable multitude “out of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues,” (<660709>Revelation 7:9) and the Beast is seen as the persecutor of all who name the name of Christ on earth. The visions of St.
John, moreover, include an opened heaven, while the glimpses Daniel was vouchsafed of “things to come” are limited to earth.
The attempt to fix the meaning of every detail of these visions is to ignore the lessons to be derived from the Messianic prophecies fulfilled at the first advent.fq6 The old Scriptures taught the pious Jew to look for a personal Christ — not a system or a dynasty, but a person. They enabled him, moreover, to anticipate the leading facts of His appearing. Herod’s question, for example, “Where should Christ be born?” admitted of a definite and unhesitating answer, “In Bethlehem of Judea.” (<400204>Matthew 2:4; Cf. <330502>
Micah 5:2) But to assign its place and meaning to every part of the mingled vision of suffering and glory was beyond the power even of the inspired prophets themselves.” (<600110>1 Peter 1:10-12) So also is it with the prophecies of Antichrist. The case indeed is stronger still, for while they
“who waited for redemption in Israel” had to glean the Messianic
prophecies from Scriptures which seemed to the careless reader to refer to
the sufferings of the old Hebrew prophets or the glories of their kings, the predictions of Antichrist are as distinct and definite as though the
statements were historical and not prophetic.fq7
And yet the task of the expositor is beset with real difficulties. If the book of Daniel might be read by itself no question whatever could arise. “The Coming Prince” is there presented as the head of the revived Roman empire of the future, and a persecutor of the saints. There is not a single statement respecting him that presents the smallest difficulty. But some of the statements of St. John seem inconsistent with the earlier prophecies.
According to Daniel’s visions the sovereignty of Antichrist appears confined to the ten kingdoms, and his career seems limited to the duration of the seventieth week. How then can this be reconciled with the statement of St. John that “power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him “?fq8 Is it credible, moreover, that a man endowed with such vast supernatural powers, and filling so marvelous a place in prophecy, will be restrained within the narrow limits of the Roman earth?
If these points be urged as objections to the truth of Scripture it is enough to mark that the prophecies of Christ were beset with kindred difficulties.
Such prophecies are like the disjointed pieces of an elaborate and intricate mosaic. To fit each into its place would baffle our utmost ingenuity. To discover the main design is all we can expect; or if more be demanded of us, it is enough to show that no part is inconsistent with the rest. And these results will reward the student of the Apocalyptic visions of Daniel and St.
John, if only he approach them untrammeled by the crude views which prevail respecting the career of Antichrist.
These visions are not a history, but a drama. In the twelfth chapter of Revelation we see the woman in her travail. In the twenty-first chapter she is manifested in her final glory. The intervening chapters afford brief glimpses of events which fill up the interval. It is with the thirteenth and seventeenth chapters that we have specially to do in connection with the present subject, and it is clear that the later vision unfolds events which come first in the order of time.
The false church and the true are typified under kindred emblems.
Jerusalem, the Bride, has its counterpart in Babylon, the Harlot. In the same sense in which the New Jerusalem is the Jewish church, so likewise Babylon is the apostasy of Rome. The heavenly city is mother of the
redeemed for ages past (<480426>Galatians 4:26) the earthly city is mother of the harlots and abominations of the earth. (<661705>Revelation 17:5) The victims who have perished in the persecutions of Antichristian Papal Rome are estimated at fifty millions of human beings; but even this appalling record will not be the measure of her doom. The blood of “holy apostles and prophets,” — the martyred dead of ages before the Papacy arose, and even of pre-Messianic times, will be required of her when the day of vengeance comes.fq9
As it is only in its Jewish aspect that the Church is expressly symbolized as the Bride,fq10 so also it is at a time when this, their normal relationship, has been regained by the covenant people, that the apostate church of
Christendom, in the full development of its iniquity, appears as the Harlotfq11 The vision clearly indicates moreover a marked revival of her influence. She is seen enthroned upon the ten-horned Beast, herself arrayed in royal hues and decked with gold and costliest gems. The infamous greatness of Papal Rome in times gone by shall yet be surpassed by the splendor of her glories in dark days to come, when, having drawn within her pale it may be all that usurps the name of Christ on earth,fq12 she will claim as her willing vassal the last great monarch of the Gentile world.
As regards the duration of this period of Rome’s final triumphs, Scripture is silent; but the crisis which brings it to a close is definitely marked.
“The ten horns and the Beast shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” (<661716>Revelation 17:16)
One point in the angel’s description of the Beast in relation to the harlot claims special notice. The seven heads have a twofold symbolism. When viewed in connection with the harlot, they are “seven mountains on which the woman sits;” but in their special relation to the Beast they have a different significance. The angel adds, “and they are seven kings;” that is
“kingdoms,” the word being used “according to its strict prophetic import, and to the analogy of that portion of the prophecy which is here especially in view.”fq13
In the seventh chapter of Daniel the Beast is identified with the Roman Empire. In the thirteenth of Revelation he is identified also with the lion, the bear, and the panther, the three first “kingdoms’” of Daniel’s vision.
But here he is seen as the heir’ and representative, not of these alone, but
of all the great world-powers which have set themselves; in opposition to God and to His people. The seven heads typify these powers. “Five are fallen, and one is.” Egypt, Nineveh, Babylon, Persia, Greece, had fallen;
and Rome then held the scepter of earthly sovereignty, the sixth in succession to the empires already named.fq14 “And the other is not yet come, and when he cometh he must continue a short space,” Here the prophecy is marked by the same strange “foreshortening” already noticed in each of Daniel’s visions. While Rome was the sixth kingdom, the seventh is the confederacy of the latter days, heading up in “the Coming Prince.” The Coming Prince himself, in the full and final development of his power, is called the eighth, though belonging to the seven,fq15 The
importance of these conclusions will appear in the sequel.
The subject of the twelfth chapter is the dragon, the woman in her travail, the birth of the man-child and his rapture to heaven; the conflict in heaven between the archangel and the dragon; (Verse 7; Compare <271201>Daniel 12:1.) the dragon’s banishment to earth; his persecution of the woman, and her flight to the wilderness, where she is sustained for “a time, and times, and half a time,” or 1, 260 days (Verses 6, 14.) (the second half of Daniel’s seventieth week). The chapter ends by the statement that, baffled in attempting to destroy the woman, the dragon “went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The thirteenth chapter, crossing the lines of Daniel’s visions, represents the fulfillment of the dragon’s purpose through the agency of the man of prophecy, whom he energizes to this end.
Whatever meaning be attached to the birth and rapture of the woman’s child, there can be no reasonable doubt that the obedient, faithful “remnant of her seed” is the Jewish Church of the latter days, the persecuted “saints of the Most High” of Daniel’s prophecy.
The serpent, the woman, and the man, appear together on the earliest page of Scripture, and they reappear upon the latest. But how significant and terrible the change! No longer the subtle tempter, Satan is now displayed in all his awfulness as the great fiery dragon,fq16 who seeks to destroy the woman’s promised seed. And instead of the humbled penitent of Eden, the man appears as a wild beast,fq17 a monster, both in power and wickedness.
The serpent’s victim has become his willing slave and ally.
God has found a man to fulfill all His will, and to Him He has given up His throne, with all power in heaven and “on earth.” This will hereafter be
travestied by Satan, and the coming man shall have the dragon’s “power, and his throne, and great authority.” (<660802>Revelation 8:2) Both the Dragon and the Beast are seen crowned with royal diadems. (<661203>
Revelation 12:3;
13:1.) Once, and only once, again in Scripture the diadem is mentioned, and then it is as worn by Him whose name is “King of kings and Lord of lords.” (<661912>Revelation 19:12-16) It must be as pretenders to His power that the Beast and the Dragon claim it.
The personality of Satan and his interest in and close connection with our race throughout its history, are among the most certain though most mysterious facts of revelation. The popular classification of angels, men, and devils, as including intelligent creation, is misleading. The angelsfq18 that fell are
“reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the Great Day.” (<650106>Jude 6)
Demons are frequently mentioned in the narrative of the Gospels, and they have also a place in the doctrine of the Epistles. But THE DEVIL is a being who, like the Archangel, seems, in his own domain, to have no peerfq19. Another fact which claims notice here is the hold which serpent worship has had upon mankind. Among the nations of the ancient world there was scarcely one in whose religious system it had not a place. In heathen mythology there is scarcely a hero or a god whose history is not connected in some way with the sacred serpent. “Wherever the devil reigned the serpent was held in some peculiar veneration.”fq20
The true significance of this depends on a just appreciation of the nature of idol worship. It may be questioned whether idolatry as popularly
understood has ever prevailed except among the most debased and ignorant of races. It is not the emblem that is worshipped, but a power or being which the emblem represents. When the Apostle warned the
Corinthian Church against participating in anything devoted to an idol, he was careful to explain that the idol in itself was nothing.
“But” (he declared) “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God, and I would not that ye should have fellowship with demons.” (<461020>1 Corinthians 10:20.)
This will afford an insight into the character of the predicted serpent worship of the last days.fq21 Satan’s master lie will be a travesty of the
incarnation: he will energize a man who will claim universal worship as being the manifestation of the Deity in human form. And not only will there be a false Messiah, but another being, his equal in miraculous power, yet having for his only mission to obtain for him the homage of mankind. The mystery of the Godhead will thus be parodied by the mystery of iniquity, and the Father, the Son, and the Spirit will have their counterpart in the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet.fq22
A silent heaven marks this age of grace. Whirlwind and earthquake and fire may awe, yet, as in the days of the old Hebrew prophet,fq23 God is not in these, but in the “still small voice” which tells of mercy and seeks to win lost men from the power of darkness to Himself. But the very silence which betokens that the throne of God is now a throne of grace is appealed to as the crowning proof that God is but a myth; and the coarse blasphemer’s favorite trick is to challenge the Almighty to declare Himself by some signal act of judgment. In days to come, the impious challenge will be taken up by Satan, and death shall seize on men who refuse to bow before the image of the Beast.fq24
The Antichrist will be more than a profane and brutal persecutor like Antiochus Epiphanes and some of the Emperors of Pagan Rome; more than a vulgar impostor like Barcochab.fq25 Miracles alone can silence the skepticism of apostates, and in the exercise of all the Dragon’s delegated power, the Beast will command the homage of a world that has rejected grace.
“All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life.” (<660808>
Revelation 8:8)
If it were possible, the very elect would be deceived by his mighty “signs and wonders”; (<402424>Matthew 24:24) but faith, divinely given, is a sure, as it is the only, safeguard against credulity and superstition.
But this is what he will become in the zenith of his career. In his origin he is described as a “little horn,” (<270708>Daniel 7:8) — like Alexander of Macedon, the king of a petty kingdom. Possibly he will be the head of some new Principality to arise in the final dismemberment of Turkey; it may be on the banks of the Euphrates, or perhaps upon the Asian shore of the Aegean Sea. The name of Babylon is strangely connected with events to come, and Pergamus, so long the home of serpent worship in its vilest